England’s series against the West Indies has drawn to a close with England winning 3-0.
Whilst it was to be expected that England would win comfortably against this Windies side, this was not a vintage Bazball performance in comparison to the style of play that England fans have been used to of late.
Buoyed by a retiring James Anderson at Lord’s and a rampant Gus Atkinson on debut - Lord’s was the only Test match in this series that felt somewhat uncontested with England going on to win by an innings.
Both the final games produced passages of play which swung the game to and fro but ultimately ended up with England on top.
Ben Stokes became only the third man to score over 6000 runs and take over 200 wickets in Tests
From a West Indian perspective 3-0 reflects harshly on their efforts during the series. Don’t get me wrong, there wasn’t much chance of their first series win on English soil since 1988 but there were certainly moments which could have turned a 3-0 into a 2-1. It almost sounds patronising to say that the Windies have played well despite the score line, but in recent years it has been the concern of the standard of West Indian players in English conditions.
We had wheels from Wood, a bowling return for Stokes, runs for Brooks, Root, Pope and Hodge, debuts for Louis, Smith and Atkinson but breaking the series up into smaller chunks, what have we learned from each side?
England are batting slower
England have reduced the run rate from last summer during the Ashes.
Statistics can take away joy from the viewing of the game but it is a fact and England have not completed an innings with a combined run rate of over 5 an over. It’s far from being a negative but it is an observation.
Pitches and scenarios come into it, but ultimately, against a lower ranked opposition, England have struggled to score as fast as they did last summer against the Aussies.
Arguably though, this is Bazball settling into itself more, the players themselves understand the definition more. Rather than defining itself as trying to hit every ball out the park, Baseball has clarified that the style of play is expressionism i.e. players playing in their natural way. The best example fo this being Joe Root who had been criticised for getting out in ‘un-Root’ like ways in order to keep up with the pace. In reality, expressionism to Root means playing his natural way which has clicked for him in the last 6 months.
Perhaps this shows that the style of play has been properly implemented and is now maturing amongst its ranks.
The West Indies attack looking scary again
The last time the West Indies came to England was during the covid summer of 2020 and they came with a bowling attack of primarily Kemar Roach, Rakheem Cornwall, Roston Chase, Shannon Gabriel, Alzarri Joseph and Jason Holder.
Fast forward 4 years (and with an injured Kemar Roach in the wings) the bowling attack of Shemar Joseph, Alzarri Joseph, Jayden Seales, Gudakesh Motie, Kevin Sinclair and Jason Holder looked far more potent.
It would be a great compliment to say that the bowling line up didn’t look hugely disadvantaged by the fact that Kemar Roach was injured.
Jayden Seales’ stint at Sussex early in the season has proved a success as he ends the series as the second highest wicket taker and he’s been backed up well by his colleagues. If the Windies can keep an attack of Joseph, Joseph and Seales for the next few years they’ll be kept in a number of contests.
An unsuccessful series of Zak Crawley
There will be some England batters of yesteryear thinking what might have been for their own careers had they been granted the extended periods of grace that Zak Crawley has received.
That’s not a jab at Zak Crawley, more of an appreciation of his management which wasn’t granted to players like Mark Ramprakash, Graeme Hick, Owais Shah, James Vince etc etc.
McCulllum and Stokes’ belief in the players they pick is admirable and no doubt will bring the best out of their XI, however, what happens when they need to cut their losses?
A solitary 76 at Lord’s was his only score of note and the series culminated in him not opening the batting in the second innings at Edgbaston whilst having a scan on an injured finger.
They’ve shown they’re capable by dealing decisively like with Jimmy Anderson and signalling the dropping of the old-guard like Ollie Robinson and Ben Foakes in favour of more exciting and younger talents who better suit their style of play.
How will they act though when it comes to one of their own, like Crawley…
Decisions to be made with West Indies’ batting line up
The Windies barely go series to series with a confirmed line up.
Most of the drama around this tour was the exclusion of Tagnarine Chanderpaul who didn’t even make the touring squad despite a respectable Test average of 32 (albeit form had escaped Chanderpaul after his maiden double ton).
Encouragingly Kraigg Brathwaite, Kavem Hodge, Mikyle Louis and Alick Athanaze had some good innings over the course of the series but only Hodge has scored a significant innings over the course of the 3 Tests. The others may have done enough to take their spots against South Africa at home next month but a couple of 50s here and there will not be enough to win Tests.
Often, lower order runs from Josh Da Silva and Jason Holder have been vital to maintain some level of competitiveness in the game but they often outscore their batters.
Kirk McKenzie will do well to appear in the series in South Africa and Zachary McCaskie should be waiting with baited breath for a call up in Port of Spain - Chanderpaul may want to keep his bat close by too…
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